


this whole damn city thinks it needs you, but not as much as I do

by annubkb



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Keith's Birthday Week 2017, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Season/Series 04, a sprinkle of angst, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 07:59:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12476952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annubkb/pseuds/annubkb
Summary: Keith leaves for the Blade of Marmora and Lance has a very important realization.Also, missing moments from Season 4 that I really wanted so I wrote them myself.





	this whole damn city thinks it needs you, but not as much as I do

**Author's Note:**

> so this is unedited because I just busted it out and wanted to post it so it may go through some changes but I just wanted to get it out because HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KEITH MY SON
> 
> I hope he knows I love him

Lance wasn’t looking for Keith. He _wasn’t_. It was just… he heard things hadn’t gone so well on the Blade of Marmora mission and probably Keith shouldn’t be left alone to wallow in it, right? And if Keith was already with Shiro, which was pretty likely, then Lance wouldn’t bother him. He turned the corner towards the lounge and nearly ran into someone.

“Sorry,” he said automatically. Then, “Keith!”

“Hey, Lance,” Keith said tiredly. He was still wearing the Blade of Marmora suit, and Lance got distracted for a solid few ticks by the way it hugged his shoulders and thighs. Then, coming to his senses, Lance cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Um, I heard what happened,” he said. “I’m sorry about Regris.”

“Thanks,” Keith said. He looked upset, and more exhausted than he would usually let show.

“Are... are you okay, Keith?” Lance tried.

“I’m fine, just tired.”

“Okay. Well, I’m glad you’re back safe. If you want to talk...” Lance trailed off pointedly, and Keith gave him a faint smile.

“Thanks, Lance. I’ll see you later.” And with that blatant dismissal, Lance moved aside so Keith could go past, unable to stop himself from watching the Marmoran suit cling along the curve of Keith’s spine. He let out a groan and dragged his hands over his face. Of course Keith didn’t want to confide in him. It was a stupid idea anyway.

He changed courses, heading for the training room instead. He was in the mood for target practice all of a sudden.

…

“We’re really gonna miss you!” Pidge wailed.

Lance could feel how brittle his smile was, like it would break if someone so much as gave it a second look. Thankfully, his voice came out normal enough.

“Yeah, who am I gonna make fun of?” he teased.

Piled into the group hug, Lance was right next to Keith and the urge to tilt his head forward and just lean it on Keith’s - just for some contact - was strong. He might have actually given in, screw this whole rivals charade, if someone hadn’t let go and soon the whole group had pulled apart. And then Keith was leaving - for weeks or _maybe months_. Honestly, it was a good thing Hunk was clinging to him and crying, or he might have done something really dumb like go after Keith.

This wasn’t right. Shiro said they wouldn’t stop Keith, so what was Lance going to do? Flat out disobey Shiro? No. But this was wrong. Keith belonged with _them_ , not the Blades. Just because he didn’t want to pilot Black didn’t mean he wasn’t part of the team. If anything, Lance should be the one stepping down, since Keith was a way better pilot and fighter than him. Keith could have Red and Allura could have Blue and Lance would help Coran. Why was no one mentioning this _obvious_ solution?

Something twisted in his stomach as he watched Keith give them all one last smile before turning and walking away. When the doors closed behind him, Lance realized what it was. And what an awful time for that realization. Classic, though. This was just the sort of crap Lance’s heart always pulled. What better time than to realize he was in love with Keith than the moment he left?

 

* * *

 

It was largely quiet in the Blade of Marmora base when their communicator beeped, requesting a channel that they used only to talk to the Castle. Kolivan answered and Allura’s face appeared on the screen.

“I need to speak to Keith,” he said seriously. “In private.”

“What for?” Kolivan asked.

“It’s need to know, only,” Shiro said, but Keith saw the glint in his eyes that meant he was happy.

“Very well. I will transfer you to a handheld device.”

In his room with the door shut, Keith finally greeted Shiro.

“What is it?”

Shiro grinned.

“Pidge wants to talk to you.” There was a loud noise off screen and then Pidge leapt into view, dragging someone along behind her. Someone who looked awfully familiar.

“Keith! I found him! Matt, this is Keith, the last member of our team!”

“Keith? Kogane? Wow, nice to see you out here,” Matt Holt said.

Keith couldn’t stop a warm smile. Pidge was practically glowing with excitement, fidgeting and glancing between the feed and her brother every five seconds. And Matt looked equally happy.

“You too,” he said. “How’d you do it, Pidge?”

Pidge shrugged casually.

“Oh, you know, the usual. Threatened a black market explosives dealer. Helped some rebels. Solved a coded message. Fought a bounty hunter. No big deal.”

Keith laughed, for what felt like the first time since he’d left.

“I get the feeling you’re leaving some details out,” he accused. Pidge grinned impishly.

“Nah, that’s the gist of it,” Matt confirmed, a matching grin on his face. 

“I’m happy for you, Pidge,” Keith said. Pidge’s grin softened into a happy smile.

“Thanks, Keith. I wish you were here,” she said.

“I miss you too,” Keith admitted.

“It’s weird without you here, the—” Pidge was cut off by a chorus of enthusiastic shouts.

“Is that Keith?!” Hunk called. Soon, the whole team was crowded into frame, grinning at him. “Hi!”

“Hi, Hunk,” Keith laughed. “Hey, everyone.”

“You look skinny, are they feeding you out there?” Coran asked. “I know nothing can compare to my cooking, but you’d best eat properly!”

“We eat,” Keith confirmed, laughing a bit. “It’s no green goo, but it’s fine.”

“Have—have you learned about your family?” Allura asked, smiling hesitantly. Keith’s heart swelled. Coming from Allura, the support for finding out more about his Galra side meant a lot.

“Not yet. We’ve been pretty busy.”

“Any progress on—” Shiro was interrupted before he could finish his question.

“Don’t waste our call time on work, Shiro,” Lance insisted. He met Keith’s eyes almost shyly. “You can talk to Kolivan about that.”

“Work doesn’t wait, Lance,” Shiro reminded him. “On that note, I actually have to go, sorry, Keith.”

“It’s fine,” Keith reassured him quickly, even though his heart was sinking.

“I must go as well,” Allura said regretfully. Soon enough everyone was bidding him goodbye, off to get back to work. Lance was the last one.

“So… I guess I’ll let you go,” Keith said reluctantly. Lance glanced at him briefly before turning his gaze to the ground.

“Actually,” Lance started hesitantly. “I _don’t_ have anything I need to be doing. So, um, if you want, we can keep talking.”

“Yes!” Keith said, too quickly and too loudly. Lance jumped and Keith felt himself flush. “I mean, yeah, I’d like that,” he added, more normally.

Lance’s face split with a dazzling grin. Keith’s heart did somersaults. At least three. Or five. Maybe eight.

“Great. Good. Awesome. Um, let me just transfer you to a handheld, hang on.”

Within minutes, Lance was shut in his room with a handheld, like Keith.

“So. Hey,” Lance said a bit awkwardly. Keith smiled.

“Hey, Lance,” he replied. “How are things?”

“Good, they’re good,” Lance said. He looked fidgety. Maybe uncomfortable. Keith’s smile dimmed as he wondered if Lance regretted his offer to chat.

“What’s it like having Matt around?”

“Pidge is happy,” Lance said, his fidgeting coming to a halt. “Which is nice. She’s… she’s just a kid, it was hard seeing her all—” Lance waved his hand emphatically— “torn up.”

“Yeah,” Keith said, thinking about Pidge nearly leaving the team for her brother, thinking about how he’d felt when Shiro was missing. “That’s good. I’m glad.”

“Yeah, and having another brain around never hurt. He and Pidge and Hunk are working on this updated Galra tracker, it seems cool.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. And, you know, he seems cool,” Lance added. “Oh! Except he totally flirted with Allura when he first saw her and I was like ‘whoa, back up, Allura is my unattainable crush’ so I mean on the one hand, he has good taste, but on the other, I’m not digging the idea of competition, you know?”

Keith felt like his heart was strangling him. Allura. Of course. Lance had a crush on Allura. Lance liked _Allura_. He knew that.

“Since when do you back down from a competition?” he teased, and if it came out a bit rougher than usual, Lance didn’t seem to notice. Instead, Lance rolled his eyes.

“It’s different with you,” he said, his mouth tilting up on one side. His eyes found Keith’s. “You’re my rival.” His gaze was so, so fond, like it had been recently. Ever since Lance had started piloting Red, it had been like this. Warm and comfortable. Lance was safe, now.

But this conversation was giving Keith emotional whiplash.

“Yeah,” Keith breathed, his eyes helplessly glued to Lance’s face, tracing across his sharp features.

After a moment, Lance cleared his throat.

“Anyway, um, yeah, Matt seems cool. And, oh my god, when he saw Shiro he ran up all excited but then called him ‘ _sir_ ’ and Keith, I nearly died because all I could think about was that one time you called him ‘sir’ and then he tripped over a chair,” Lance said, laughing. “God, that was hilarious. Shiro didn’t seem as freaked out this time, though, which was a bummer. But I mean, really nothing beats the chair thing, so I guess after that, this was fine.”

“Guess so,” Keith agreed. “Still, that’s funny. Shiro’s not really into the whole chain of command thing that much. He thought it was ‘a facsimile of respect’ and ‘real respect is earned’ or whatever.”

“That sounds like him,” Lance agreed. “Maybe I should start saluting him. Bet he’d love that.”

“Take a picture of his face and send it to me,” Keith joked. Instead of laughing, Lance’s smile slipped.

“Yeah,” he agreed. Then he sighed. “How are things there? With the Blades?”

Keith shrugged.

“Fine. We’re making progress on the quintessence supply line.”

“Yeah, but…” Lance hesitated. “I dunno. Never mind.”

Frowning, Keith opened his mouth to insist Lance explain himself, but Lance cut him off.

“So did Pidge tell you the story of how she found Matt?”

“Uh, not really. She said something about a bounty hunter and rebels and threatening someone? And a code?”

“Ah, the abridged version,” Lance said grinning. “Wanna hear the whole thing?”

“Definitely,” Keith said.

Lance launched into the story, propping his handheld against the wall so he could wave his arms emphatically as he talked. Keith couldn’t help smiling as he watched.

Three hours later, Hunk burst into Lance’s room.

“Time for dinner, Lan—oh. Um, you’re still talking to Keith?”

Keith watched, fascinated, as a flush spread across the bridge of Lance’s nose.

“Hi, Hunk,” Keith called out.

“Hey, man,” Hunk said. “Sorry, but I’ve gotta steal Lance. It’s dinner time and Shiro wanted to talk about plans for tomorrow.”

“Right, yeah,” Keith said. He glanced at his handheld and saw that it was the middle of the night on Blade of Marmora time. Keith couldn’t see Hunk, but Lance was making a complicated expression and mouthing something at him.

“I’ll let you two say goodbye, then,” Hunk said, and his tone was…strange. “Bye, Keith!”

Keith watched Lance’s flush darken and spread down his neck and tried not to think about how warm Lance’s skin would feel.

“Bye, Hunk,” Keith replied. Lance looked back to him, biting his lip.

“I didn’t realize it had been so long,” he said. “Sorry for keeping you.”

“Don’t be,” Keith insisted. “This was… really nice.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, still biting his lip but smiling softly. “Stay safe, Keith.”

“Bye, Lance,” Keith said.

“Bye,” Lance echoed.

…

Keith hit the floor with a grunt.

“You’re overreaching. You forget this is not your bayard,” Kolivan said, looking down at Keith. He didn’t offer him a hand up.

“Let’s go again,” Keith said, getting to his feet.

They sparred again.

The Blades sparred a lot. When they weren’t on missions, there was training and there was eating and sometimes there was sleeping. It was wonderfully productive.

Keith had begun to hate it. Being with the Blades was not like being a part of Voltron. Keith knew this. It was the reason he’d left. He didn’t want to prance around the universe and put on pep rallies for planets that didn’t have the balls to join the coalition for the right reasons. But he missed his friends. With the Blades, there was no idle chatter or friendly joking in between missions. Or maybe there was and he just wasn’t privy to it. Just like he wasn’t privy to any real information about his Galra heritage.

“Now is not the time,” Kolivan would always say. “We have more important things to do.”

It was true. Their investigations into the quintessence supply line and therefore Lotor were yielding only bits and pieces of information, but it was better than nothing, and they were going on short infiltration missions almost every other day to follow the supply line’s path. Meanwhile, his friends were gearing up to put on some kind of show. Shiro had been sparse on the details, but a big performance was exactly the kind of thing Keith had left to avoid. It was a waste of time that could be used to track down Lotor.  

They had just finished planning their next mission for the day after when a broadcast signal pinged on their display. Frowning, Kolivan approved the opening of the one-way channel.

Coran’s face appeared on screen, uncomfortably close to the camera.

“Welcome to the Voltron Show!” he all but yelled.

Keith held back a snort.

“Shut it off,” Kolivan told the person at the panel. “Everyone go get some rest before the mission tomorrow,” he ordered the handful of people in the room.

Minutes later, once Keith had climbed onto his bed, he picked up his handheld and opened the channel with the broadcast, finding himself curious. Coran’s introduction had finished and now the paladins were being introduced. First was Allura, as… him. Or, as ‘Lone Wolf Keith’ which seemed to be a caricature of his real personality.

Keith couldn’t help the snort this time. He had no clue why they had decided to have Allura play him, but she certainly didn’t look pleased about it.

Next was ‘Humorous Hunk’ and then ‘Brainy Pidge’ and Keith was laughing out loud. But he choked when he heard the next announcement.

“Loverboy Lance!” Coran called out, and Lance appeared on the screen, slowly descending down a rope hanging off the Red Lion. Keith watched, transfixed as Lance twisted midair, holding on with only one hand.

 _God_.

Keith knew that must take an insane amount of strength, and he’d become very familiar with Lance’s broad shoulders, but he’d never pictured Lance being able to do something like this. Lance had a charming grin on his face the whole time as he twirled around the rope. When he turned upside down and did the splits, Keith let out a strangled noise and then immediately felt his entire face flush as heat dripped down his spine.

He barely registered the rest of the show, even though he watched the whole broadcast. He was too stuck on the strength Lance had been hiding somewhere and the way Lance’s legs went on for days. He closed his eyes and the images were burned into his eyelids. He was having a lot of trouble ignoring the part of his brain that was helpfully pointing out how much it all resembled pole-dancing and how Lance could probably pole dance, based on that show. And the same part of his brain was also pointing out that Keith very much did not mind the idea of Lance pole-dancing.

Keith told his brain to shut the hell up so he could sleep.

His brain didn’t listen.

 

* * *

 

Keith was sitting alone on the observation deck, staring out the window. The lights were dim, but Lance could see enough of Keith’s face to see that he looked troubled.

“I heard, you know,” Lance said, breaking the silence. Keith jolted and whipped around to look at the doorway. He relaxed when he saw Lance.

“Heard what?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure everyone heard, but we were kind of busy and I’m not sure anyone noticed. Except Pidge, probably, that little gremlin notices everything.”

“Heard _what_ , Lance?”

“This was one of those few times ADHD actually paid off for me, so… hooray for that, I guess.”

“ _Lance_ ,” Keith said firmly, but he wore a fond smile on his face, one that made Lance’s heart trip over itself and nearly made him _actually trip_ as he stopped next to Keith and sat down. “You heard what?”

“What did Matt not want you to do?”

The fond smile slipped right off Keith’s face, like maybe it had never been there in the first place. Lance wished it might have lasted longer, so he could really take it in, but this was too important. He could still hear Matt’s voice asking, “ _Wait, Keith, what are you doing_?” and then, the addition that had stopped Lance’s heart briefly, “ _Keith, no_!”

Keith shrugged, but then he curled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees. Classic defensive positioning.

“Nothing, it was no big deal,” he said. But it was a _lie_ , and Keith was an awful liar.

“Keith,” Lance said reproachfully. “Just tell me. You were going to do something stupid and reckless, right?”

“No.” Lance gave him a skeptical glare. “I was going to do something _smart_ and reckless,” Keith said, giving Lance a poor imitation of his usual playful smirk. Lance snorted anyway because, _god_ , wasn’t that the truth? That was always the part that got to Lance - that Keith was reckless but he _wasn’t_ dumb. He wasn’t just an impulsive hothead. Keith had great instincts and the only reason he’d struggled as a leader was he had issues applying his instincts to command.

“Keith, c’mon, just tell me. I won’t get mad. I just want to know what happened.”

Keith sighed and let his legs go, so he was sitting cross-legged instead of curled up. Lance turned to face him.

“The shield was really powerful,” Keith began. “Our weapons weren’t working and we were running out of time. Voltron wasn’t going to get there in time. If we couldn’t stop Haggar, Naxzela would have exploded and all of you would have died. So, I figured that I could weaken the shield with actual physical force.”

Lance frowned. “I’m not following,” he said, but he was. He just really, really hoped he’d interpreted Keith wrong. His heart was already contracting painfully.

“Lotor ruptured the shield. But before that happened, I’d set my ship on a collision course with the shield, to make an opening so the rebel fighters could fire on the weapon. I was pretty close, actually. Another tick and I probably would have hit.”

“You were going to sacrifice yourself,” Lance whispered. Keith shrugged again, returning his gaze to the stars passing by. Lance could feel his breaths come quicker and his eyes sting.  

“I mean, I guess, but it didn’t happen.”

Lance pressed a hand to his mouth. At this point they’d all had close calls and it was horrible, but they were somewhat desensitized. This was not like that. This was Keith - who had _left_ to work with the Blade and they hadn’t seen him in _weeks_ \- deciding his death was worth the victory.

Technically he was right, and Lance knew that. Lance might have done the same thing, if he’d been in Keith’s shoes. But that didn’t stop the tears or the shaking or the ache in his chest at the thought of winning the battle only to find out Keith was dead.

“Keith--” Lance choked out, and Keith’s head whipped around to stare at him, his eyes widening in horror.

“Lance, are you crying?” he asked incredulously. Lance swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and tried to catch his breath, but he couldn’t.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he gasped out. “I don’t--I don’t know _why_ I’m crying. Fuck. I’m sorry.”

Keith reached out a tentative hand, but it stopped in the air between them, hovering awkwardly because Keith probably had no idea what to do, since Lance was having a _complete breakdown_ in front of him, totally out of the blue.

“Lance, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine, I just--” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence. What could he say? That he just freaked out at the thought that Keith _could_ have died? As Keith had pointed out, he _didn’t_ die, so Lance really shouldn’t be this distraught. He should be angry. But instead he looked at Keith and it hurt.

Keith hadn’t even decided what to do with his hand before Lance all but launched himself at Keith. He wrapped his arms around the slightly smaller boy and pressed his face into Keith’s shoulder. Keith let out a life “oof” at the impact, his arms wrapping around Lance reflexively, and then they were both toppling to the floor in a tangle of limbs, but Lance didn’t let go.

“Lance…?” Keith said hesitantly. Lance shook his head.

“Just...just gimme a tick.”

The tick passed, then another, and another. Lance was lying pretty much on top of Keith but he could feel Keith’s heartbeat and hear him breathe, which was enough to ground him. He took a few deep breaths that rattled his whole ribcage. He had been _terrified_ when he heard Matt over the comms and only now was that really fading.

Eventually - after too long, really - he came to his senses and scrambled off Keith, wiping his eyes hastily. Keith sat up more slowly, his expression inscrutable.

“Hoo boy, um, sorry about that!” Lance said brightly. “Don’t know _what_ happened, but...yeah, sorry.” Keith frowned.

“Lance--”

Lance _did not_ want to hear what Keith was about to say. This entire debacle was embarrassing enough.

“I said I wouldn’t be mad,” he interrupted, “and I’m a man of my word. But I would like to inform you that stunts like that are _not_ okay.” His voice wobbled on the last bit, and suddenly Keith’s expression was distinctly concerned.

“Are you okay?”

“Peachy!” Lance insisted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Keith gave him the flattest, most exasperated look.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Keith asked, and Lance deflated. His face felt like it was on _fire_ , sweet quiznak.

“No.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I freaked out and cried all over you.”

“It’s fine,” Keith replied immediately. Lance shot him a disbelieving look. “No, really, I don’t… I didn’t mind. If you needed that, then it’s fine. I’m kinda more worried about _why_ it happened.”

Answering that honestly was going to take a lot of courage Lance didn’t have.

“I guess it was just a lot,” Lance said, his fingers tapping his knees restlessly. “We barely made it off Naxzela, and that whole thing was a close call for everyone in the area, not just us. And now we have to deal with _Lotor_ , which--” Keith’s expression darkened-- “yeah, don’t even get me started. And I guess just hearing that you almost died was just...icing on the shitcake of today. Especially since you’ve been _gone_. I-- _we_ missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Keith said softly. The sincerity in his eyes was making it extremely hard to breathe. “I mean, I missed _everyone_ , obviously, but I missed you, too. The Blade of Marmora is...not like it is here. They’re pretty serious. I missed having you around to remind me I’m a person and not just a soldier.”

Lance stared at Keith, his heart doing somersaults in his chest. He knew - on some level - that Keith had probably missed him, but he figured it was more along the lines of missing the team than missing _him_. The idea of Keith missing Lance _specifically_ was dizzying.

Many ticks passed before Lance realized that he hadn’t replied and he’d been gazing directly at Keith. Into his eyes, even. And, worst of all, he’d been leaning in.

He reeled back.

“Wow, um, I am _really_ exhausted, having a breakdown and crying all over someone really takes a lot out of you. I’mgonnagobye!” he said in a rush and then leapt to his feet and practically sprinted out before he could see Keith’s reaction or give him a chance to respond.

…

Lance opened the door to the training room and met with a surprise. It was occupied. While Keith had been gone, Lance had been the one in the training room, mostly for lack of anything better to do in his free time. Pidge and Hunk were busy with their tech and the others were busy planning Voltron’s next big move.

But Keith was _back._ Of course he’d be in the training room. The thought probably shouldn’t have made Lance so happy. He should be annoyed that he couldn’t take out his stress and distrust of Lotor on the practice targets, but his annoyance had disappeared, replaced with contentment and some residual embarrassment. Keith hadn’t mentioned anything about Lance’s breakdown, but Lance knew he remembered it.

He couldn’t figure out if he should announce himself or just leave. Keith hadn’t noticed him yet, too busy absolutely demolishing the gladiators, plural, that he was fighting. Lance gaped. When did Keith get that good? A few months ago he was definitely the best with his bayard, but still not as good overall as Shiro. Now it looked like Shiro would lose.

Keith was wearing his regular clothes and using his Marmora knife instead of a bayard, but he was still besting three gladiators at once. He was practically a blur of motion and Lance felt warmth pool in his stomach as he watched Keith go to town.

Barely a minute had passed between Lance entering and Keith beating the training program. Keith pulled off his shirt and Lance’s eyes widened to saucers. The program reloaded and then a computerized voice spoke.

“Add one combatant?” it asked. Keith whipped around to the door and Lance raised a hand in greeting.

“Lance,” Keith said, barely sounding out of breath. “Hey.”

God. Keith had been fit even before, and Lance knew this because he had noticed - had _always_ _noticed_ \- Keith. But this was… Lance's mouth went dry. He couldn't stop himself from staring, couldn't stop his eyes from tracing over the firm lines of Keith's torso. By the time he managed to drag his eyes somewhere more appropriate, like Keith's goddamn pretty face, his cheeks were burning. This was… this was _bad_.

“Fuck,” Lance squeaked. “I mean hey! Hi. Um, what… what level was that?”

Keith flushed and Lance nearly let out another squeak. He was so pretty.

“Level 15, I think,” Keith admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, then frowning when his hand came away sweaty. 

“Fifteen?!” Lance yelped. “Fif— _Jesus_.” He buried his face in his hands and tried to calm his frantic heart. So what if Keith had somehow become even more of a badass while he was gone? Lance didn’t care. Lance was cool. That wasn’t attractive.

“Lance?” Keith asked.

Lance steeled himself and looked up.

“You’re insane,” he said, pointing a finger at Keith. “That’s insane.”

Keith laughed.

“Yeah, well, the Blades train a lot. I got better.”

“Oh, yeah, ‘got better’, he says. Like it’s no big deal,” Lance complained.

Keith laughed again and Lance’s heart fluttered happily. He loved making Keith laugh.

“We all have our things, _Loverboy_ ,” Keith teased, smirking. Lance choked on his tongue.

“You—you saw the show?”

Keith grinned.

“It was broadcast all over the galaxy and we weren’t on a mission, so yeah, I saw it. Didn’t know you were so flexible.”

Fuck, Lance was gonna have a heart attack. Was this flirting? Was Keith _flirting_ with him?

“Um, yeah. Eight years of gymnastics,” Lance muttered, his face aflame. “Must’ve been good for something.”

“Mm-hmm,” Keith agreed, still smirking “Looks like it paid off.”

Lance was dying. He was pretty sure hearts were not meant to pump this fast.

“I…I was gonna train, but if you’re using the room, that’s fine,” he said, desperately hoping Keith would accept the change in subject.

“Nah, I’m done,” Keith said. “But instead of training, do you want to go sit at the observation deck with me?” He actually looked nervous, like he thought Lance might say no. Lance was so _not_ about to say no. But he couldn’t work his tongue properly.

“Uh…” Lance said dumbly.

“After I shower,” Keith added with a laugh. “Um, obviously. I’m sweaty and gross right now.”

“Sure,” Lance said, flinching when his voice cracked.

“Great,” Keith said. He gave Lance a smile that warmed him all the way to his toes. Then he walked off and left Lance in a puddle on the training room floor.

 

* * *

 

Keith ran a hand over his damp hair, wishing there was some way to dry it before he went and met Lance on the observation deck. He could feel his pulse in his fingertips. He knew he wasn’t great with connecting to people, or figuring out what their actions meant, but he felt pretty confident about his interpretation of Lance’s behavior. It was difficult to misinterpret the blatant staring from the training room. Lance… thought he was attractive.

His heart skipped at the thought.

Attraction was not the same as feelings, and he knew that, but… Keith was done waiting. A day ago he’d been a tick away from dying and he just didn’t want to wait anymore.

When he got to the observation deck, Lance was already sitting on the ground, one of his legs bouncing. Keith took a deep breath and then sat beside him.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“Hey,” Lance echoed. His leg stopped bouncing but he began tapping his fingers on his knee instead. Smiling, Keith reached out and put a hand over Lance’s, stilling the motion. Honestly, he had no clue where all this bravery was coming from but it was now or never.

“I like you,” Lance blurted out. Keith’s mouth popped open.

“I—what?” he spluttered, his brain completely switching tracks from speaking to listening and getting lost in the transition. “What?”

“I like you,” Lance repeated, pointedly looking out the window instead of at Keith. Keith watched, enthralled, as Lance’s caramel skin flushed red. “Romantically. I have romantic feelings for you. I wasn’t going to tell you, but I realized it’s probably pretty obvious so I figured I’d just get it over with.”

“It…yeah, it is obvious,” Keith agreed. “The training room thing was kind of what settled it.”

“Sorry, that… was probably pretty creepy of me,” Lance said sheepishly, his blush spreading down his neck. Keith had a vivid flashback to seeing that flush on his handheld and all the things he’d wanted at that moment. All the things he could have, if Lance liked him. He reached out and pressed his fingers to Lance’s neck, and Lance jumped, whipping around to stare at Keith.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his hand flying up to cover the place Keith had just touched. Keith felt his own face flush.

“Sorry, I… I just wanted to know—you were blushing all the way down your neck,” Keith tried to explain, his tongue getting tied up in all the words he wanted to say. “And I wanted…” He fell silent, at a loss, and just looked up at Lance, who seemed staggered.

“You…” Lance started, but he had to pause and swallow. Keith watched the movement of his throat and lost whatever words had been left in his brain, except for one.

“Lance,” Keith said, starting a train of thought that had already derailed.

“Yeah?” Lance whispered. Keith leaned forward and Lance’s eyes went round and then they were kissing, gentle and slow.

When Keith pulled back, he kept his eyes closed for a moment, letting his smile unfurl. He opened his eyes and saw Lance grinning down at him, his blue eyes swirling with affection.

“I thought I was being pretty obvious too,” Keith admitted.

“No,” Lance said, his smile blinding. “Honestly, I had no clue.”

“Oh. Well, yeah. Um. Me too,” Keith said.

Lance laughed, loud and bright.

“I figured that out, thanks.”

“Shut up,” Keith snapped weakly, unable to keep his own smile off his face for long enough to fake the irritation. Lance laughed again.

“C’mere,” he said fondly, reaching out for Keith. Keith went, letting Lance pull him closer until they were half on top of each other. Lance kissed him again, then pressed his face into Keith’s neck when they broke apart. Keith smiled helplessly, curling his fingers into Lance’s hair and dropping a kiss to the crown of Lance’s head.

He could feel Lance’s smile like sunshine on his skin.

**Author's Note:**

> heehee fluff :)


End file.
